Methodologies
In
the fourth and fifth chapter of the first epistle to the Thessalonians, curious comments are made in reference to the return
of Jesus. The author uses the term parousia, “meaning "presence," "visit,
“or "coming" [it] is a term St. Paul uses for the return of Christ in his
letters (see 1 Cor 1:7; 15:23; Thess 2:19; 3:13; 5:23; 2 Thess 2:1,8,9). In
secular Greek it was used of the visit of a high-ranking government official.”1
The term was also often used to describe how the local citizens of a township
would meet the approaching met
approaching public figures while they were still outside the city walls (Matthew 25:6 and Acts 28:15 provides us other examples of meeting important people
in this social context). He also uses the term paraenesis, which, is “an address or communication strongly urging
someone to do something.”2 In this paper, sociological, historical
and other interpretative methodologies are used to glean further understanding
about the authorship, date and place of composition, social setting, 1st
century mythological understandings, and what this means for the two periscopes
contained within 1st Thessalonians
4:13-5:11.
Authorship
and Dating of 1st Thessalonians
According
to 1st Thessalonians 1:1,
the authors were “Paul, Silas and Timothy”3 and the letter is
addressed “To the church of the Thessalonians”. According to the book of Acts, Silas only went on Paul’s second
missionary journey, so we can surmise that it was on this journey that the
epistle was written.4 Paul is believed to have authored several NT
documents, and in most (if not all) cases it is thought that they were always
by the hand of a scribe (cf. Romans 16:22), although there are occasions where
Paul would write on his own (Galatians 6:11). There are various arguments for
and against Pauline authorship, but the scholarly consensus is that Paul
authored this epistle, and it is believed to be the earliest letter of the NT.5-6
In fact, according to Bart D. Ehrman, “Scholars are almost unanimous in thinking that it was the
first of his surviving works to be written, which also means that it is the
oldest book of the New Testament and consequently the earliest surviving
Christian writing of any kind.”7
Now, some scholars have noted a
similarity between Romans 13:11-14 and
the 1st Thessalonians 5:1-11
pericope, and as Romans is generally accepted
as a Pauline letter it could follow that 1st
Thessalonians is also Pauline.8 It ought to also be noted that the
two pericopes of 4:13-18 and 5:1-11 have had their authenticity questioned
before. Some suggest that the 5:1-11 is "a post-Pauline
insertion that has many features of Lucan language and theology that serves as
an apologetic correction to the Pauline expectation of the parousia and thus
already reflects the problem of the delay of the parousia."9 Nevertheless, 5:1-11 simply shows us some
results that source criticism or tradition criticism would bear out – that “The
material found in this pericope bears remarkable similarity to some of the
expressions found in the prophetic literature of the Bible, to the literature
of Qumran, and to other NT passages.”10 As such, simply because
there appears to be a developed idea of the delay of the parousia does not
throw the authenticity into question, it simply demonstrates that believers
have had questions from the start.
Further,
when considering the authenticity of the Pauline letter, the church structure
is quite clearly very primitive and early, as in 5:12 the apostle calls the
leaders merely “those who are over you.” This suggests an early structure that
was similar to the Jewish system and not as far departed as later Christians.
Also, “The language and style are certainly Pauline, while the subject-matter
would be inconceivable after Paul’s death. No one would have thought of
representing the apostle as expecting to be alive at the parousia when it was
known that he was already dead.”11 In light of this, it seems rather
unlikely that this epistle would be a forgery. If indeed Paul had already died
and his death was then known to the Christian community – what purpose would
forging this document serve unless it was to discredit Pauline Christianity? It
is therefore reasonable to assume Pauline authorship for this epistle with
these and other considerations.
Regarding
the place of composition, the scholarly consensus holds that this letter was
written from Corinth. As with anything in Biblical studies, however, there is
slight disagreement. The Textus Receptus, “at the end of the
two Epistles, gives a subscription stating that they were written from Athens (egraphe
apo Athenon); and this same subscription is contained in the great uncial
codices A, B2, K2, L2 — that is, Alexandrinus (fourth century), Vaticanus
(fifth century corrector), Mosquensis, and Angelicus (both of the ninth
century); it is likewise translated in important Latin, Syriac and Coptic
manuscripts.”12 Although these manuscripts state that St. Paul wrote
from Athens, intertextual evidence seems to demonstrate a Corinthian
composition. Paul clearly states in 3:6 that Timothy had returned from
Thessalonica before the writing of this epistle. 1st Thessalonians does not state where it is that
Timothy returned to Paul at, but Acts 18:1-5
shows that when Timothy and Silas returned from Macedonia (the province where
Thessalonians is located), Paul was in Corinth. It seems that the news brought
by Timothy was what Paul is responding to in his first epistle to the
Thessalonians. Subsequently, 2nd
Corinthians 1:19 (assumed to be Pauline as well) states that St. Paul, Silas
and Timothy preached among them, lending further credence to a Corinthian place
of composition.
Concerning the date of composition, scholars tend
to differ. Some believe that this epistle was written in AD 48 or 49,13
whereas others believe that it was written in 53 or 54 according to the
commonly received scheme of Pauline chronology14 or even between AD
50-53.15 This gives us a range between AD 48-53, sometime around the
Council in Jerusalem mentioned in Acts 15 (which is believed to have occurred around
AD 48). As such, this places the date of composition around 20 years after the
followers of Jesus claim that he was resurrected, which seemingly makes this
the earliest NT document. Granted, it is widely believed that Paul’s letters
contain early creedal formulas, baptismal statements and christoglocial hymns
that date to the 30s, but the earliest complete document in the NT appears to
be 1st Thessalonians.4
How
else may we date this letter? The early papyri and early writers may aid in
this dating. Papyrus 30 is one of the
earliest manuscripts of 1st
Thessalonians 4-5, dating from the 3rd century. The infamous Papyrus 46 (AD 175-225) may have
contained 4:13-5:11, but some of the folios are missing or deteriorated. Papyrus 65 (AD 200s) may have once
contained 4:13-5:11, but what remains is a fragment of the first and second
chapter. There appear to be relatively few early papyrus fragments of these
passages in the first four centuries, though it appears in abundance later on. Therefore,
the three major 1st
Thessalonians papyri that we have date from between AD 175-225. Subsequently,
the Didache, Clement of Rome (in 1st Clement), the Shepherd of Hermas, Ignatius, Melito,
Polycarp, the Gospel of Nicodemus,
Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and various other writers and works
of antiquity quote from 1st
Thessalonians 4:13-5:11.16 The fact that the Didache (AD 50-120), Clement of Rome
(around AD 95 for 1st Clement) and the Shepherd of Hermas (AD 100-160) all quote from this section of 1st Thessalonians firmly
dates the letter to sometime in the 1st century. Further, the fact
that Paul calls the Lord “Jesus” in 4:14 instead of the usual Pauline “Christ”
may also be slight evidence for an early date as Paul may have become more
concrete in his terminology as he wrote more and more, although it is worth
noting that Paul would have been a missionary for about 15 years by this point.
Therefore, it is reasonable to date this epistle around the mid-1st
century.
Sociological
Purpose of 1st Thessalonians 4:13-5:11
According to Ehrman, “Thessalonica
was a major port city, the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia, where
the Roman governor kept his residence, and one of the principal targets chosen
by Paul for his mission in the region.”17 When considering that the
Thessalonians would quite obviously be
familiar with the image of the parousia, being a major port city and major
Roman area, we begin to understand why Paul utilizes the languages and images
that he does – but this does not establish the purpose of the letter. 1st Thessalonians 3:6 conveys
that St. Paul was given“good news about [their] faith and love.”
However,
although there was “faith and love,” questions arose in the Thessalonian church
such as to what happens to believers who die before the parousia of Jesus. This question seems to have come about early in
the church history – which may also be further evidence for an early
composition18 – and although the Thessalonian church was well-aware
of the purpose for Christ’s return, they began to be concerned. The eschatology
in 1st Thessalonians
appears to show a heavy apocalyptic message preached to the church there, so
Paul’s message of Jesus returning for his followers to save them from judgment
was familiar to them, but they did not understand how or when, and questioned
the times and dates as well as their social status as believers who died pre-parousia.
As Young notes, “Paul's motivation
here is neither to recite his teachings about the second coming of Christ nor
to convince the Thessalonians that the general resurrection would soon occur…the
passage seeks to explain the relationship between the claim that the righteous
will experience a glorious resurrection and the early Christian conviction that
Christ will return in glory to consummate history,”19 but also to
explain socially to the church in Thessalonica how they are separated from the
pagan world. “If one were baptized into Christ Jesus, he could not also be
initiated into the cult of Dionysus or Serapis, nor could he participate in
many civic and social ceremonies that were, however innocuous to most, to the
Christian… idolatrous.”20 As such, those who are not of God are
“prepared for destruction” (5:3), and this dishonor that is associated with
these outsiders is something Christians were attempting to avoid. As more of
them died, however, they felt shame. The pagans were likely pointing at the
Christians and saying, “you claim that you are saved from the grave by your God
– but where is your God? Why do your people continue to die?”
If this was the case, “Paul turns
this pagan characterization on its head and argues instead that those who have
died will precede those who are living at the Parousia, denoting that their
honor is the greatest of all (v.15; cf. Phil. 1:21).”21 A further
consideration is needed to clarify this important sociological issue. In this
epistle, St. Paul called Christians “sons of light,” with the
dualistic implication being that these pagan outsiders are “of night” or “of
darkness” (5:5) and those who are “destined for wrath” (v.9). The concept of
“sons of light” and sons “of darkness” was likely familiar to Paul’s audience.
The concept “was
especially important for the Dead Sea sect at Qumran, who considered themselves
the ‘sons of light’ (the literal rendering of "children of light," v.
5) and God's only righteous remnant (1QS 1:9-10; 3:13,24-25; 1QM 1:1, 3),”22
and in fact the phrase can also mean the “sons of the day of the Lord,” a
highly important concept explored later in this paper.
Subsequently,
the dualistic nature of the concept of light and dark or day and night is also
clearly seen in Paul’s epistle and can help to clarify some of the underlying
ideas behind his words. In the 1st century context, values, ethics
and morals seemed to change between the day and night. Indeed, even in modern
times we are known for doing things at night that we would not otherwise do
during the day – clubbing, partying, illicit behavior and even criminal
activity. Greco-Roman literature and archaeology demonstrate widespread fear of
a thief coming in the dead of night to steal, perhaps rape, burn or enact other
malice upon the household.23 When Paul appeals to this image of the
thief in the night he may be harkening back to oral tradition from Jesus later
preserved in NT documents,24 but he may also be appealing to a wide
fear of thieves. Dark deeds were accomplished in the nighttime, and the Christian
community at Thessalonica would not want to be associated with these
dishonorable individuals.
Another
related factor to take into consideration is how the female audience of the
4:13-5:11 pericopes would have interpreted these ideas. Here, the Lord will
return not only as a thief in the night – unexpectedly and causing great
distress – but also would come suddenly and quickly, “like labor pains on a
pregnant woman” (5:6). As scholar Christopher D. Stanley points out, “to a
woman living in an era before painkillers, when many women actually died giving
birth, the comparison of the ‘day of the Lord’ with ‘labour pains’ would have
evoked feelings of anxiety and even dread.”25 Although Paul
fortunately states that these words should not be taken in fear as the audience
would not be among those who suffer, Stanley notes that “the moral injunctions
of v. 6 and v. 8 lies the implicit charge that those who fail to act in the
prescribed manner are not really ‘sons (!) of light’ and will therefore suffer
destruction on the coming ‘day of the Lord’. This attempt to regulate the
conduct of the Thessalonian believers would have been most effective with those
who had already been stirred to fear by the earlier imagery of thieves and
birth pains, i.e., the women in the audience.”26
Furthermore,
the imagery in NT documents of a thief in the night is a fearful and striking
image that shows that the authors “implicitly endorsed the dehumanization of a
whole class of people and reinforced the social system that oppressed them.”27 Through this we find that a large
amount of the issue in the church was primarily of a sociological and not an
eschatological nature. Nevertheless, Paul’s eschatology is inseparable from his
overall theology. In fact, “Paul's eschatological worldview—his conviction that
the end of the age was near—was the driving force behind much of his ethical
exhortation. Eschatology and ethics were so linked in his thinking that when he
wrote of one, the other was never far from his mind… we must take ample account
of the connections Paul draws between the imminence of the end of the world and
the moral imperatives of the Christian life.”28
Various
Other Sociological Factors
There
are a handful of other sociological factors to take into consideration. For
example, the socio-historical usage of shouting battle and war imagery as well
as cosmological views of the universe are other factors to consider. 1st Thessalonians 4:16 says
that Jesus will return with a shout. Understanding what is meant by a “shout”
in the historical-social context may help. “The ‘shout’ often denotes an
authoritative utterance… It is the cry made by the ship’s master to his rowers,
or by a military officer to his soldiers, or by a hunter to his hounds, or by a
charioteer to his horses. When used of military or naval personnel it is a
battle cry. In most places, then, it denotes a loud, authoritative cry, often
uttered in the thick of great excitement… The whole situation demands a command
of God or Christ to the dead.”29
St. Paul
utilizes a lot of battle imagery in 4:13-5:11. In fact, he often utilizes Roman
imagery in his letters to explain a Christian concept (cf. Ephesians 6:13-17). As the Jews were still under Roman rule during
Paul’s lifetime and the Roman Empire spanned the locations Paul tended to visit,
the images of soldiers, shields, helmets and armor would have been visually
striking and familiar to his audience. Morris notes that a Jewish audience
would likely have been familiar with this concept of war imagery from Isaiah 59:17, “where Jehovah is depicted as a
warrior armed.”30 The combat imagery frequent in 5:1-11 also recalls
the biblical teaching on holy war as well as the War Scroll from the Qumran community. Here, Paul mentions “a
breastplate” and “a helmet,” which are both part of common Roman soldier garb.
Another consideration of the
4:13-5:11 pericopes is Paul’s cosmological view, which also allows us to gain a
better understanding of this letter in the socio-historical context. The
Greco-Roman worldview held that there were different planes of existence –
Hades below (with Tartarus at the
lowest pit), the earth we inhabit (here),
Olympus above and the Elysium Fields
were elsewhere. Here, “…Paul’s scenario presupposes a three-storied universe,
in which the world consists of an ‘up’ (where God is, and now Jesus), a ‘here’
(where we are), and a ‘down’ (where those who have died are)… Jesus was here
with us; he died and so went down to the place of the dead; then God raised him
up to where he is. Soon he is going to come back down to the earth on the
clouds (i.e., from heaven above the sky) to raise up both those who are here
and those who are down below, elevating them to the clouds to live with him
forever.”31 In these clouds, however, the Jewish cosmology shines
through. 1st century Jewish cosmological understanding also shows
that there “may be significance in the meeting place being ‘in
the air.’ In the first century the air was often thought of as the abode of
demons (Satan is described as ‘the ruler of the Kingdom of the air,’ Eph. 2:2).
That the Lord chooses to meet his saints there, on the demons’ home ground so
to speak, shows his complete mastery over them.”32
The dwelling place of Satan and his
demons is also noted in the Ascension of
Isaiah 7:9. Young alludes to the idea of evil spirits abiding in the air
(cf. the other source in paper that mentions that). – “In popular Greek
cosmology, the "air" was the midpoint between the heavens and the
earth and was often occupied by evil forces. Locating the glorious reunion in
this setting makes a compelling statement about the all-encompassing extent of
Christ's authority at his parousia.”33 This cosmological concept not
only further demonstrates that Jesus – the head of this Christian community –
is over even the forces of darkness, but it provides a model for the Christians
to understand that they are also following the one who is higher than the
pagans who oppress them.
Considerations
of the Parousia and “Sleep”
The
NT refers to the Second Coming of Christ in a variety of ways, but does so in
nearly every NT document. However, “In the Old Testament and in Jewish apocalyptic literature,
those who were taken up to heaven were alive…[34] [Therefore, the] implication
in the Thessalonians passage is that those in Christ will experience such a
heavenly assumption”35 while they are still living. The problem then
arises – will this heavenly assumption be made by those who have already died?
The Thessalonian church was extremely concerned about this, and along with the
previously mentioned factors, Paul appeals to various social contexts and
understandings that his audience would have been familiar with.
In
Matthew 24:31, Jesus refers to the
trumpet’s sounding in relation to the gathering of the believers just as Paul
does here, and in fact “The sounding of the trumpet is associated with the
activity of the Lord in the Old Testament passages…[36] J. Klausher
attests the idea for first-century Judaism… The trumpet is frequently mentioned
in the descriptions of battles in the War scroll.”37 It is worth
noting that as Paul uses the term parousia
to identify the coming of Christ, as aforementioned the term itself in the
Greco-Roman context denoted the coming of the king. Thus, Paul “describes the [parousia]
like the coming of a king or Caesar for whose arrival the community must be
prepared… As the lord draws near… the archangel who goes before him like a herald,
accompanied by a trumpeter, will effect the resurrection of the dead… [and] it
may be allowed to draw on archaeology: everywhere in ancient Greek cities, the
cemeteries line the main roads leading into the city, often for miles.”38
As a result of this understanding, the Thessalonian audience would have
understood that the coming of Christ is like the coming of a governor or of
Caesar – it is heralded by trumpets and loud noise, but in this case the
trumpets of God’s kingdom are cause for the believers to celebrate and not have
to cope with the oppressive Roman overseers. They also would understand that
the very same roads that the Caesar would be announced upon were lined with
graves of individuals who would then rise again, so this image is one which
Paul knew would be familiar to them.
Also,
it would have been understood that this “peace and security” that Paul alludes
to in 5:3 would remind the audience of the Roman rule. It is highly unlikely
that Paul was the one who first coined this very slogan, and in fact was
probably utilized as a form of Roman propaganda in order to advance their
empire, maintain social and political order and also as a way to elevate their
states. As Koester notes, “If this interpretation of the phrase is correct, it
would imply that Paul points to the coming of the Day of the Lord as an event
that will shatter the false peace and security of the Roman establishment”39
The Roman propaganda is therefore not accepted as a true peace or security, but
as promoting a false sense of peace. “Peace and security” is found by living in
Christ and by being part of the community, not through Roman rule.
Another
point to take into social consideration is how Paul uses the term “sleep” as a
euphemism for death. As we see from 1st century sources, the life of
a pagan is absolutely filled with uncertainty, not having a major meaning or
purpose (other than to worship the pagan gods), ignorance and near-carefree
morality where most things are permissible. It is in this pagan world that the
Thessalonians live, and we can clearly see this lifestyle through 1st Thessalonians. In fact, according
to the Greek poet Theocritus, “Hopes
are for the living; the dead are without hope.”40 Similarly, the
Greek historian Plutarch wrote to a grieving friend who had lost his son that
the greatest cure for grief was reason as we all die and are all mortal.41
The usage of “sleep” as a euphemism for
death is rather common in Greco-Roman documents. It essentially “embraced the
whole ambivalence of human life and death – it was an attempt to avoid
confrontation with the harsh reality hiding behind a euphemism… [and] Through a
figurative use of the verb ‘to sleep,’ Epictetus [said]… ‘Lie down and sleep,
and follow the pursuits of a worm of which you judge yourself worthy; eat and
drink, mate, go to the privy, and snore.’”42 Even the Roman poet
Horace taught that we should “seize the day” (carpe diem), as we may “sleep” at any time.43 This was
not the understanding being given to the Thessalonians, however. Their
understanding is that they would sleep “in Christ,” and that this sleep is not
an end but only the beginning.
Day
of the Lord and other Traditions
The two pericopes in 1st Thessalonians 4:13-5:11
(specifically in 4:13-18) can be seen as a combination or culmination of
various mythological and religious understandings and traditions of the day.
According to Collins, “What is clear and most significant for our present
purpose is that the Pauline paraenesis of 5,1-11 is redolent with traditional
motifs. Paul has reworked these materials into a consistent whole which takes
attention away from idle speculation on the time of the Parousia in order to
allow the expectation of the Parousia to provide a note of urgency for the
exhortation which Paul is addressing to the faithful of Thessalonica.”44
There appears to be an abundance of
apocalyptic imagery present in this Pauline epistle. In fact, “All of the
images found in verse 16 were part of the common stock of apocalyptic thought
in Paul's day… [however,] There is no word on many of the issues which
fascinated apocalypticists of Paul's day, such as the nature of the final
judgment, the ultimate fate of unbelievers, what will happen to the present
world, the nature of the resurrected body, or how living believers will be
translated into glory. Paul takes up some of these topics elsewhere
(1 Cor 15, for example),”45 but in this epistle his aim is not to
create a structured outline of the eschatological events, but it has another
purpose. His “description of the end at this point is tailored to the pastoral
needs of the Thessalonians. As grieving believers, they need the assurance that
God will keep their departed Christian friends in God's care. An exhaustive
script of the end-times is not called for, but attention to the readers'
spiritual needs is.”46 Here, Paul lays out the
parousia as Jesus returning “from heaven” (4:16) with a shout or loud command, the
voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God (some debate whether these
are three ways of describing the same noise or three different noises), and
those who have died will be resurrected, and the believers will be caught up
together into the clouds “to meet the Lord in the air.” Thus, the concept of
resurrection and the return of Jesus are explicitly interconnected and both
will occur on the day of the Lord.
It
is entirely relevant to finally address what this “day of the Lord” that has
been referred to numerous times actually is. This “day of the Lord” was a very
ancient phrase that was in use even by the time of the prophet Amos (8th
century BC). The usage by Amos suggests that the audience already has
familiarity with this phrase, which implies that it may be very old indeed, or
that the idea behind it was older. According to Morris, “the day would be one
of judgment on all people. The Israelites could expect to be punished for their
sins, just as they expected that other people would be punished. This…
[concept] used of Yahweh in the Old Testament [is] applied to Christ in the
New… [and the] thought of final judgment carries over into the New Testament
understanding of the Day.”47 This phrase is found in various forms
throughout both Testaments as well as in extrabiblical literature, so when Paul
referred to the day of the Lord coming like a “thief in the night” and that it
would come suddenly, “like labor pains on a pregnant woman” (5:6), the urgency,
the concept of divine judgment and the idea of the end of time would have been
very familiar to a Jewish audience, and the Greco-Roman audience would likely
also have been familiar with the image as well.
It
should be noted that there do not appear to be any present oral traditions that
source criticism can determine. We are likely meant to understand that when
Paul says, “According to the Lord’s own word,” or ‘in the word of the Lord,”
this is in fact an actual saying of Jesus, one that is simply not recorded in
the canonical gospels. Also, John
21:25 states that not everything that Jesus said or did is recorded, and “There
must have been many such sayings, for example, one is recorded for us in Acts
20:35 (cf John 20:30; 21:25)”.48 While this is entirely true that
Paul may have learned an actual saying of Jesus, it is also probable to
consider that a supposed prophet in the early community claimed they were given
these words, or that the saying actually comes from an extra-biblical document
which we do not have.
Conclusion
1st
Thessalonians
1:3 and 5:8 has the triadic formula, “faith, love and hope.” This triadic
formulation is also utilized elsewhere in Paul’s letters (1st Cor.
13:13). However, when Timothy reports back to Paul about the church of the
Thessalonians, he brings only tidings of their “faith and love” (3:6),
essentially implying that hope is not present. Paul then notes that he seeks to
“supply what is lacking” (3:10) in the faith of the Thessalonians, and so in
the 4:13-5:11 pericopes, he is likely attempting to supply that hope. Although
members of the congregation were dying or already deceased, Paul wanted these
believers to understand that victory over death had been won – “Where, O death,
is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 49 The relationship
between the problem of deceased believers and the parousia’s prominent place in Paul’s theology is summarized in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10: “For God has not
destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with him.”
Social and historical criticism has
revealed a number of conclusions concerning the two pericopes found in this
section of the epistle. The roads near Thessalonica were lined with graves of
individuals who were “asleep” and these same roads would be the place of the parousia of the Caesar or governor which
was announced via a shout or trumpet, and the coming of high-ranking officials
would also have been understood as a way to remind the onlookers of the “peace
and security” they had because of their Roman rulers. This “peace and security”
would have carried over into both day and night, so that the Thessalonians
would not have to fear thieves in the night because they were supposedly
protected by those who wore both a breastplate and a helmet – the Roman
soldiers. All of these things were very familiar to the Thessalonian believers,
and Paul appealed to these contemporary images, understandings and customs to
convey the message to his believers.
Therefore, this Pauline epistle written
from Corinth – the earliest NT document we have – was written not only with an
eschatological mindset but also a social mindset. This understanding allows the
reader to see that Paul was not simply explaining to the Thessalonians that the
believers who had died would be reunited with them at the parousia of Jesus,
but that their “peace and security” would come from Jesus, who would return
like a “thief in the night” to meet believers in the “air” thereby
demonstrating his mastery over the forces of evil, and then the believers would
“be with the Lord forever” (4:18). They were not outcasts or “of darkness” as
the pagans were; these individuals were “sons of light” and belong to the
ultimate Light. “Therefore,” Paul concludes, “comfort one another with these
words.”
Endnotes
1. Young, R Garland.
"The Times And The Seasons: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11." Review & Expositor 96.2
(1999): 274. ATLA Religion
Database with ATLASerials. Web.
2. "paraenesis". Oxford
Dictionaries. Oxford University Press, n.d. Web.
3. Or
the Greek Silvanus, which is a variant of Silas.
4. Mackervoy, Ian.
"When Jesus Christ comes: An EasyEnglish Commentary (2800 word vocabulary)
on Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians." EasyEnglish Bible.
Wycliffe Associates (UK), n.d. Web.
5. There are a variety of arguments for and against the
Pauline authorship of 1st Thessalonians. For example, 2nd
Thessalonians is considered to have been written between AD 80-100. As such,
perhaps one of the strongest external textual evidences in favor of Pauline
authenticity is 2nd Thessalonians which appears to be the earliest
document that presupposes Pauline authorship of 1st Thessalonians.
Other evidences cited are very early usage of this Epistle as Scripture by the
Church Fathers as well as a variety of other reasons. Arguments against Pauline
authorship essentially come to a supposed lack of firm doctrine, the notion
that this letter is a forgery derived from his story in the book of Acts, and
the phrase ephthase de ep autous he orge eis telos, "the
wrath hath come upon them unto the end" (2:16), supposedly refers to the
destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70) as punishment of the Jews for killing Jesus.
But this is an unnecessary assumption, however. Paul, as with any other writer,
“adapted his letters to the wants of those to whom he wrote. The very fact that
the apprehension of an immediate Parousia us not mentioned in the later letters
would have prevented a forger from palming off as Pauline such an unusual
topic” (Drum, Walter. "Epistles to the Thessalonians." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.)
6. There are a handful of scholars who hold that Paul
actually wrote to the Galatians first before writing to the Thessalonians, thus
causing dispute about which letter was earliest (Zahn, "Einleitung
in das Neue Testament" Leipzig, 1897, I, 138.)
7. Ehrman, Bart D. The
New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings.
3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. 302. Print.
8. Collins,
Raymond F. Studies on the First Letter to the Thessalonians. 1st
ed. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1984. 170. Print.
9. Udo Schnelle,
translated by M. Eugene Boring, The History and Theology of the New Testament
Writings (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998), pp. 48.
10. Ibid 8, pp.156.
11. Wallace, Daniel
B.. "1 Thessalonians: Introduction, Outline, and Argument." Bible.org.
N.p., 28 Jun 2004. Web.
12. Drum, Walter.
"Epistles to the Thessalonians." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14.
New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.
13.
Chronology of Harnack, "Chronologie der altchristlichen Litteratur"
(Leipzig, 1897), I, 717
14.
Drum, Walter. "Epistles to the
Thessalonians." Early Christian Writings. 2013.
15. Mackervoy, Ian.
"When Jesus Christ comes: An EasyEnglish Commentary (2800 word vocabulary)
on Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians." EasyEnglish Bible.
Wycliffe Associates (UK), n.d. Web.
16. Kirby, Peter.
"e-Catena." Early Christian Writings. 2013. 16 Oct. 2013
17. Ibid 7, pp.303.
18. Morris,
Leon, and F.F. Bruce. New
International Commentary on the New Testament. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids,
Michigan: William E. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 1991. 135. Print.
19. Ibid
1.
20. Cranford, Michael. "Pagan Ethics and the Rhetoric of Separation: A
Sociological and Rhetorical Context for 1 Thessalonians 4:1-5:11." Early
Christian Writings. 2013.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid
1. Note that Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, also
makes reference to an Essene teaching of hating your enemies – but he goes
against this and says to love your enemies. See also “Sons of light” (Luke 16:8 and John
12:36), “Children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).
23. Stanley, Christopher D.
"Who's Afraid of a Thief in the Night?." New Testament
Studies. 48. (2002): 468-486. Print.
24. See Matthew 24:43; Luke
12:39; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation
3:3; 16:15
25. Ibid, 23. pg.483
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid, pg.486.
28. Ibid
1.
29. Ibid 18,
pp.143.
30. Morris,
Leon. The Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians. 1st ed. Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans Printing Company, 1979. 95. Print.
31. Ibid 7, pp.314.
32. Ibid 18, pp.146.
33. Ibid 1, pp.270.
34. For example, Enoch in Genesis 5:24; Elijah in 2nd Kings 2:11; see also the Apocalypse
of Moses 37.3; the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra 5:7.
35. Ibid 1, pp.266
36. See Exodus
19:16; Isaiah 27:13; Joel 2:1; Zechariah 9:14.
37.
Ibid 18, pp.144.
38.
Koester, Helmut. "Imperial Ideology and Paul's Eschatology in 1 Thessalonians."
Trans. Array Paul and Empire. . 1st ed. Harrisburg: Trinity Press
International, 1997. 158-160. Print.
39.
Ibid, 162.
40.
See Homer’s Iliad 11.241; Genesis
47:30; Deuteronomy 31:16; Job 14:12f., Jeremiah 51:39; John
11:11-13; Acts 13:36; 1st Corinthians 11:30.
41. Idyll 4.4.2, from Malysz, Piotr J.
"Paul's Use Of The Imagery Of Sleep And His Understanding Of The Christian
Life: A Study In The Thessalonian Correspondence." Concordia Theological Quarterly 67.1 (2003): 69. ATLA
Religion Database with ATLASerials.
Web.
42. Letter to Apollonius 103F-104A, from Ibid. In Epistle 99.2
the philosopher Seneca makes a similar urging to reason similar appeal to
reason when scolding who reprimands his friend for grieving too much.
43.
Ibid.
44. Ibid 1, pp.271.
45. Ibid, pp.269.
46. Ibid.
47. Ibid 18, pps.150-151.
48. Ibid, pp.141.
49. Paul uses this in 1st Corinthians 15:55 (AD
54), which is itself a quote from Hosea 13:14 (710 BC). Notably, Paul alludes
to the concept found within the 1st Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 in the
previous verses, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we
will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and
we will be changed.” Here we see the usage of the trumpet, the resurrection of
the dead, and “sleep” as a euphemism for death, just as in the 4:13-18
pericope.
